«/*-  kVt- J  t/v«. 

M H-  iH~j . 


'Slincrttan  ISoarti  of  (jrommtssioncrs  for 
jForrign  ilHtsstons. 


West  Gentrsl  Aerimn  Mission. 


A  CONDENSED  SKETCH. 


n»a- 


■^y  i»S  Tcvi  ^ 


CONDENSED  SKETCH  OF  THE 
WEST  CENTRAL  AFRICAN 
MISSION. 

i  _ 

The  Origin.  —  At  the  Annual  Meeting  of 
the  American  Board  in  October,  1879,  the  Pru¬ 
dential  Committee  was  directed  to  open  a  mis¬ 
sion,  if  practicable,  in  West  Central  Africa. 
The  region  selected  was  that  of  “  Bih6  and  the 
Kwanza,  an  elevated  plateau,  or  rolling  country, 
some  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  inland  from 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  at  Benguela,  in  about  12° 
south  latitude.”  The  selection  of  this  site  was 
the  result  of  extended  and  laborious  inquiry  and 
correspondence  conducted  by  the  late  Rev.  John 
O.  Means,  D.D.,  just  prior  to  his  election  as 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Board,  who  vis¬ 
ited  England  and  the  Continent  and  conferred 
with  many  European  travelers  who  were  familiar 
with  different  parts  of  Africa. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  in  October,  1880,  the 
Prudential  Committee  reported  the  arrangements 
for  the  opening  of  the  mission  as  already  in  pro¬ 
gress.  Rev.  Walter  W.  Bagster,  Rev.  William 


4 


H.  Sanders,  and  Mr.  Samuel  T.  Miller,  whose 
offers  of  service  had  been  accepted,  sailed  from 
Lisbon  on  October  5,  the  day  of  the  Annual 
Meeting,  and  landed  at  Benguela,  November  10. 
After  a  tedious  delay  of  three  months,  porters 
were  secured,  and  the  party  set  out  for  the  in¬ 
terior  March  9  and  reached  Bailundu  March  28, 
1881,  where,  owing  to  the  determined  oppositibn 
offered  by  King  Kwikwi  to  their  further  progress, 
the  central  station  of  the  mission  was  estab¬ 
lished.  Bih6,  the  second  station,  was  occupied 
early  in  1884.  After  the  expulsion,  a  station 
was  fixed  at  Benguela  on  the  coast,  as  the  base 
of  supplies  to  the  whole  mission. 


The  Location.  —  All  these  stations  are  with¬ 
in  the  limits  of  the  province  of  Angola  and  are 
nominally  under  Portuguese  jurisdiction.  Bai¬ 
lundu  is  190  miles  from  Benguela,  almost  due 
east ;  while  Bih6  is  seventy  miles  from  Bailundu, 
to  the  southeast.  Both  are  situated  on  a  rolling 
plain  about  five  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  in  a  most  salubrious  climate,  where  the 
mercury  rarely  sinks  below  35°  F.  and  rarely 
rises  above  88°  F.,  affording  a  temperature  nearly 
such  as  is  found  in  Washington  Territory  or 
Oregon.  The  face  of  the  surrounding  country 
is  broken  with  hills  and  watercourses ;  the  soil 


5 


is  fairly  fertile  and  capable  of  a  great  variety  of 
crops  when  properly  tilled ;  the  timber  is  light 
and  of  small  value  for  lumber ;  the  underlying 
rock  is  granite,  with  rich  deposits  of  iron  and 
other  valuable  ores.  Sweet  potatoes  and  corn 
are  grown  in  great  profusion,  oranges  and 
bananas  flourish  under  cultivation,  and  with 
proper  tillage  a  large  population  may  be  sus¬ 
tained. 

The  People.  —  The  native  inhabitants  of  the 
region  around  our  stations  are  scattered  through 
numerous  small  villages  and  perhaps  equal  in 
number  those  of  the  agricultural  districts  in  New 
England.  They  live  in  wattled  houses,  well 
built  and  convenient  for  such  a  people,  and 
they  are  all  partially  clothed.  They  are  a  brown 
race,  with  regular  features  and  closely  curled 
hair,  of  erect,  finely  formed  figures,  active  in 
habit  and  friendly  in  disposition.  They  belong 
to  the  great  Bantu  family,  that  occupies  the 
southern  part  of  Africa  from  ocean  to  ocean, 
from  5°  north  latitude  to  20°  south  latitude. 
Their  language  is  called  the  Umbundu  and  ap¬ 
pears  to  be  one  of  regular  construction,  flexible, 
and  capable  of  receiving  and  conveying  religious 
ideas  with  reasonable  facility.  They  are  gov¬ 
erned  by  a  king,  who  is  their  leader  in  war  and 


6 


their  chief  at  home.  There  is  a  council  of  chief 
men,  or  elders,  who  own  the  land,  surround  the 
king,  give  him  advice,  and  as  the  exigency  re¬ 
quires  regulate  the  succession.  The  authority 
of  Portugal  in  the  high  lands  is  little  more  than 
nominal. 

There  are  no  carriage  roads  between  the  re¬ 
gions  inland  and  the  coast;  all  communication 
is  by  a  footpath  for  men  and  beasts,  and  all 
transportation  is  by  means  of  carriers.  Twelve 
days  is  the  shortest  time  from  Benguela  to  Bai- 
lundu,  and  often  fifteen  days  are  consumed. 
Beasts  of  burden  are  very  little  used ;  the  tepoia, 
a  hammock  suspended  upon  a  pole,  is  the  only 
conveyance  for  women  and  children.  The  Bai- 
lundos  and  Bih^nos  have  no  distinct  object  of 
worship,  no  well-defined  religious  system ;  and 
the  teachings  of  the  missionaries  have  to  en¬ 
counter  only  the  apathy  and  opposition  of  the 
unregenerate  heart.  The  total  population  acces¬ 
sible  to  this  mission  is  only  matter  of  conjec¬ 
ture  :  within  a  radius  of  thirty  miles  around  each 
of  the  inland  stations  there  may  be  ten  thou¬ 
sand  people,  and  within  reach  from  Benguela 
perhaps  half  as  many  more.  The  country  east 
and  south  inland,  to  which  these  stations  are  the 
natural  gateway,  is  vast  and  populous,  and  the 
opportunity  that  opens  before  the  mission  is 
almo'^t  illimitable. 


7 


Beginnings  of  the  Mission.  —  When  first 
planted  at  Bailundu,  the  mission  consisted  of 
the  three  men  named  above  —  two  of  them  or¬ 
dained  missionaries,  the  third  a  teacher.  Their 
first  tasks  were  to  build  homes,  to  win  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  king  and  people,  and  study  the 
language.  Their  houses  thus  far  have  been 
built  after  the  native  fashion  —  one  story  in 
height,  wattled  frames,  with  a  thatched  roof. 
The  mission  was  enlarged  before  the  end  of  the 
first  year  by  the  arrival,  November  30,  1881,  of 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Francis  O.  Nichols  and  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Frederick  A.  Walter.  These  ladies 
were  the  first  white  women  to  visit  the  interior, 
and  w’ere  naturally  looked  upon  with  great  curi¬ 
osity.  The  deference  paid  to  them  by  the  gen¬ 
tlemen  of  the  mission  was  a  matter  of  profound 
surprise  and  tended  to  heighten  the  popular 
estimate  of  their  rank  and  worth. 

Early  in  1882  the  prospects  of  the  mission 
were  for  a  time  beclouded  by  the  death  of  Rev. 
W.  W.  Bagster,  up  to  this  time  the  pioneer 
and  leader  of  the  enterprise.  Excessive  labors 
and  exposure,  in  the  most  unselfish  devotion  to 
the  work,  broke  down  his  vigorous  health,  and 
with  perfect  resignation  and  an  unshaken  faith  in 
the  future  of  the  mission  he  passed  away,  leav¬ 
ing  a  hallowed  influence  and  a  sacred  memory  to 


8 


his  mourning  brethren.  The  precious  remains 
of  this  dear  brother,  laid  to  rest  on  these 
heights,  in  a  true  sense  consecrate  the  soil  and 
its  inhabitants  to  the  gospel  he  loved  and  came 
thither  to  preach.  We  shall  not  have  kept  our 
pledges  to  this  brother  until  a  Christian  life  and 
civilization  arise  to  guard  the  place  of  his  burial 
and  to  bless  the  nations  and  peoples  round 
about. 

At  the  very  time  of  Mr.  Bagster’s  death  a 
fresh  reinforcement  was  on  its  way  to  the  mis¬ 
sion.  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Wesley  M.  Stover,  Miss 
Minnie  J.  Mawhir,  who  subsequently  became 
the  wife  of  Rev.  Mr.  Sanders,  and  Rev.  William 
E.  Fay  arrived  at  Bailundu  June  6,  1882,  and 
the  mission  was  thus  fully  equipped  for  im¬ 
mediate  needs.  For  more  than  a  year  the  time 
and  strength  of  the  mission  were  occupied  with  , 
the  serious  tasks  of  building  houses  and  trans¬ 
porting  supplies  from  the  coast  and  enlarging  <; 
acquaintance  with  the  people  and  with  their  i 
language.  Religious  services  were  held  at  the 
homes  of  the  missionaries,  on  the  Sabbath  and  ! 
on  other  days,  to  which  the  natives  came  in 
with  more  or  less  regularity.  The  grammar  of 
the  language  was  studied  and  analyzed,  and  a  i, 
vocabulary  was  collected,  as  frequent  intercourse  ' 
with  the  people  gave  op23ortunity.  A  school  was 


9 


soon  opened,  and  under  Mr.  Miller’s  care  made 
commendable  progress. 

In  1883,  owing  to  impaired  health,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Nichols  asked  leave  to  retire  from  service 
and  returned  to  this  country,  leaving  the  mission 
without  a  trained  physician.  In  the  course  of 
this  year  communication  was  opened  with  Bih6, 
and  an  invitation  was  given  by  the  king  for  some 
of  the  missionaries  to  come  and  live  with  him. 

In  1884  the  forward  movement  to  Bih6  began, 
and  Messrs.  Sanders  and  Fay  went  thither  to 
open  the  new  station  and  build  the  mission 
home,  Mrs.  Sanders  being  the  first  white  woman 
who  had  ever  visited  this  place. 

The  Expulsion.  —  The  Portuguese  author¬ 
ities  at  Lisbon  and  on  the  African  coast  from  the 
first  treated  the  missionaries  with  great  civility 
and  rendered  them  important  services.  The 
natives  had  given  them  hearty  welcome,  and  King 
Kwikwi  of  Bailundu  formally  adopted  them  as 
his  “white  men.”  The  traders,  however,  seem 
to  have  looked  upon  our  men  from  the  first 
with  suspicion  and  jealousy.  They  observed  the 
large  stores  that  were  taken  inland  and  the  gen¬ 
erous  presents  that  were  made  to  the  king  and 
his  chiefs ;  and  they  were  convinced  that  the 
missionaries  were  traders  in  disguise,  who  would 


lO 


win  their  profits  away  from  them.  Accordingly 
they  set  themselves  to  prejudice  the  minds  of 
the  native  king  and  the  people  against  the  new¬ 
comers,  and  in  many  other  ways  annoyed  and 
hindered  them ;  but  the  missionaries  forbore 
complaints  and  went  on  their  ways  peacefully. 

Thus  matters  stood  at  the  middle  of  May, 
1884,  when  suddenly  the  envy  of  one  of  the 
most  hostile  traders  brought  affairs  to  a  crisis. 
King  Kwikwi,  bribed  with  gifts  and  alarmed  by 
false  reports,  sent  urgent  word  to  the  mission¬ 
aries  that  they  must  go  from  his  kingdom  in 
nine  days  and  only  take  a  small  part  of  their 
property  with  them.  Astonished  at  this  sudden 
outbreak,  they  could  not  believe  their  ears  and 
at  once  tried  to  see  the  king  and  expostulate 
with  him ;  but  they  could  get  no  audience. 
Word  was  sent  to  Bihd,  and  the  party  there 
came  down  to  Bailundu.  Then,  after  an  inter¬ 
view  with  the  king  in  which  he  renewed  his 
order  to  leave  with  angry  threats,  they  were 
compelled  to  seek  the  coast.  Hastily,  with  such 
few  effects  as  they  could  carry,  the  missionaries 
set  out  on  their  long  and  sorrowful  journey,  leav¬ 
ing  all  their  hopes  behind  them.  The  dangers 
and  fatigues  and  exposures  and  hardships  of 
that  forced  march,  where  three  frail  women  and 
two  little  children  must  keep  pace  with  the  men. 


with  few  carriers  and  scanty  supplies,  are  more 
easily  imagined  than  described.  A  merciful 
Providence  guarded  them  from  perils  and  saved 
their  lives  and  brought  them  every  one  to  the 
coast  in  safety,  though  some  of  them  were  almost 
exhausted.  Mr.  Stover  and  family  and  Mr.  Fay 
came  to  America  to  report  the  disaster  and 
receive  counsel.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sanders,  after  a 
brief  pause  for  rest,  began  to  retrace  their  steps 
and  within  four  months  were  established  once 
more  in  Bailundu  with  the  consent,  and  even 
welcome,  of  the  people  and  the  king.  Mr.  Wal¬ 
ter  and  family  and  Mr.  Miller  remained  at  Ben- 
guela  and  took  immediate  measures  to  open  a 
station  there.  A  little  later  Mr.  Miller,  at  his 
own  request,  was  released  from  service  and 
returned  home. 

Mr.  Walter,  in  the  name  of  the  mission,  at 
once  opened  negotiations  with  the  governor- 
general  at  Angola  and  conducted  the  affair  with 
such  steadiness  and  address  as,  in  conjunction 
with  communications  opened  at  home  with  the 
Court  at  Lisbon,  to  bring  about  his  active  inter¬ 
ference  in  the  case.  The  governor-general  dis¬ 
owned  all  responsibility  for  the  ill-treatment  our 
men  had  suffered,  instituted  an  inquiry  into  the 
facts,  and  caused  letters  of  commendation,  in 
behalf  of  our  missionaries,  to  be  addressed  to 


12 


the  native  kings.  The  services  of  Mr.  F.  S. 
Arnot,  a  Scotch  missionary  to  the  Barotse  i 
Valley,  who  came  to  Bailundu  a  few  days  after 
the  expulsion,  were  freely  rendered  and  proved 
of  great  value  to  the  mission.  He  dealt  with  the  j 
kings  and  chief  men  of  Bailundu  and  Bih6  and  ' 
greatly  aided  in  the  prompt  reestablishment  of  . 
the  mission.  In  consequence  of  these  things  the  ! 
two  kings  were  led  explicitly  to  condemn  the  I 
expulsion  and  robbery  and  to  invite  all  our  ' 
missionaries  to  return. 

The  Restoration.  —  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sanders 
went  back  to  Bailundu  in  November,  1884,  and  i 
at  once  took  up  their  abode  in  one  of  the  mission 
houses  there  and  resumed  the  school  and  other 
mission  work.  Not  only  were  they  unmolested  ; 
their  return  was  the  occasion  of  popular  rejoicing, 
and  the  violent  expulsion  of  the  previous  July 
was  repudiated  and  condemned. 

In  June,  1885,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stover,  with  |; 
their  little  daughter,  set  out  on  their  return  to 
the  mission,  and  September  28  reentered  Bai¬ 
lundu  and  took  up  their  residence  in  the  very  i 
house  whence  they  were  driven  out  fifteen 
months  before.  While  in  this  country  Mr.  Stover 
and  Mr.  Fay  had  attended  to  the  printing  of  the 
first  Umbundu  grammar  and  vocabulary,  of  which 


13 


the  manuscript  was  happily  preserved  in  the 
flight.  Mr.  Fay  returned  with  his  wife,  Mrs. 
A.  M.  Fay,  in  April,  1886,  accompanied  by  Rev. 
and  Mrs.  Walter  T.  Currie.  It  is  expected  that 
as  soon  as  they  arrive  the  station  at  Bih6  will 
be  reoccupied  by  two  families.  And  thus, 
within  two  years  of  the  time  of  the  expulsion, 
both  of  the  original  stations  will  be  reopened 
and  fully  manned  and  Benguela  added  as  the 
station  at  the  coast  and  the  base  of  supplies. 
The  outlook  for  the  future  is  as  promising  as 
could  be  expected.  It  is  too  early  to  speak  of  re¬ 
sults.  It  has  been  seed-sowing  thus  far,  or 
rather  the  rough  work  of  breaking  up  the  soil 
preparatory  to  seedtime.  And  yet  something 
has  already  been  accomplished.  Good  sites 
have  been  chosen  and  occupied.  The  nature 
of  our  work  and  the  character  of  our  laborers 
have  been  fully  proved  to  Portuguese  and  natives 
and  their  goodwill  secured.  The  language  has 
been  reduced  to  writing  and  grammatical  form, 
and  the  first  attempts  at  translation  have  been 
made.  An  interesting  school  has  been  gath¬ 
ered  at  Bailundu,  and  the  work  of  education  has 
been  fairly  entered  upon.  In  a  few  instances, 
among  those  longest  in  the  families  of  the  mis¬ 
sionaries,  there  seems  to  be  some  apprehension 
of  the  meaning  of  the  gospel  and  some  desire 


14 


to  receive  its  truth.  In  due  time  the  spiritual 
harvest  which  we  long  to  see  shall  be  gathered 
in  abundantly. 


WEST  CENTRAL  AFRICAN  MISSION. 
1886. 


MISSIONARIES  WITH  THEIR 

STATIONS  AND 

DATE  OF 

JOINING  THE 

MISSION. 

Rev.  William  H.  Sanders  .  . 

Bihe. 

Mrs.  Mary  J.  Sanders  .  .  . 

Mr.  Frederick  D.  Walter  .  . 

.  .  .  1881 

Benguela. 

Mrs.  Margaret  D.  Walter  .  . 

.  .  .  1881 

■ 

Rev.  Wm.  E.  Fay . 

Bihe. 

Miss  Annie  M.  Fay  .  .  .  . 

.  .  .  1886 

Rev.  Wesley  M.  Stover  .  .  . 

Bailundu. 

Mrs.  Bertha  D.  Stover  .  .  . 

Rev.  Walter  T.  Currie  .  .  . 

.  .  .  1886 

Bailundu. 

Mrs.  Clara  M.  Currie  .  .  . 

.  .  .  1886 

